How to Renew Your Kid's Japanese Passport in Japan

Before we get into the details, it is important to remember a few things about this topic.

First, Japan differs from the US in that children born to foreign nationals are not granted Japanese citizenship automatically. A Japanese citizen has a Japanese citizen as a parent or has renounced their former citizenship (among other steps) to become naturalized as a Japanese citizen.

Second, if you aren't fluent in Japanese, I do not recommend attempting to renew your child's Japanese passport without some serious help from a native Japanese speaker, preferably the Japanese parent of your kid.

A passport center in Sendai.

Passport centers in Japan are pretty easy to find with a basic internet search. Stopping by to pick up the paperwork in advance and double check what you need would be a good idea, but if that isn't possible, the most important things to remember are the koseki tohon (family register, which you can get at city hall) and an appropriate sized photo with a white background. Photo ID for the Japanese parent and child including the previous passport for the child will also be necessary.

It is my understanding that the Japanese parent must be present with the child at the passport office, but unlike the US system, the other parent is not required at all.

After taking a number and waiting a while, the parent will hand all of the prepared forms and the appropriate photo to a clerk who will check for errors and omissions.

Forms available including the 5 year passport forms for children, the ten year options for adults, and a handy guide to passport photo etiquette.

If your child's name uses an L, make sure to tell the clerk and present alternative identification with the name written as you would prefer it. For this, we used our kid's new US passport. 

After the initial trip to the passport office, we were told to return in two weeks to receive the passport.

When returning to receive the passport, parents will need to pay for the process via one 2000 yen and one 4000 yen revenue stamp, sold in Sendai at a vending machine within the passport office. We had to attach them to a form and turn it in before we could collect the passport, which of course also followed a short check of the child's face and recitation of personal facts like birthday and home prefecture.

At the end, the process was much cheaper and faster than the US version.